Neurocysticercosis. Two hundred thirty-eight cases from a California hospital

Arch Neurol. 1988 Jul;45(7):777-80. doi: 10.1001/archneur.1988.00520310087022.

Abstract

Neurocysticercosis is no longer a medical curiosity in the United States. Two hundred thirty-eight patients with neurocysticercosis were studied between 1981 and 1986 at the Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center, Los Angeles. Presenting signs and symptoms were protean--ranging from a single convulsion to coma and death. Fifty-one patients (21%) presented with an acute increase in intracranial pressure. There were 71 patients who ultimately required a shunting procedure or craniotomy. Presentation, diagnosis, management, and laboratory adjuncts (the role of cysticercosis titers and the electroencephalogram) are discussed. Mortality and morbidity can be reduced by maintaining a high degree of suspicion in populations at increased risk for cysticercosis.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Anticonvulsants / therapeutic use
  • Central Nervous System Diseases / complications*
  • Central Nervous System Diseases / ethnology
  • Central Nervous System Diseases / therapy
  • Cerebrospinal Fluid Shunts
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Craniotomy
  • Cysticercosis / complications*
  • Cysticercosis / ethnology
  • Cysticercosis / therapy
  • Electroencephalography
  • Female
  • Hispanic or Latino
  • Humans
  • Hydrocephalus / complications
  • Hydrocephalus / surgery
  • Male
  • Mexico / ethnology
  • Middle Aged

Substances

  • Anticonvulsants